Monday, 26 November 2012

GroovyMAME (the specialised CRT version of MAME that allows for native resolutions and refresh rates on CRT monitors) has just received a MASSIVE update! This has got to be the most exciting thing that has happened on the MAME/SCART front all year!

I haven't had a chance to test the new build out yet but the list of changes is quite substantial and there are some really cool new features!

Friday, 23 November 2012

I've always been curious about CRT televisions that can accept a VGA input. In particular, 16:9 widescreen sets that might be used for watching DVDs or playing modern PC games on a CRT without interlacing.

I took a punt this week and forked out for a jumbo Loewe Xelos with a VGA card fitted. I'm pleased to say that the image is superb! Really great looking TV. Incredibly stable picture and the focus is very good for such a large screen. I've only managed to get 640 × 480 going so far but hopefully the VGA module can be coaxed into accepting a 16:9 aspect resolution.

Monday, 19 November 2012

I was looking through my jumbo folder of SCART Hunter resources and found some photos of a lovely little number that I had in my possession for a brief time. I found this Blaupunkt on the nature strip during an epic hard rubbish hunt. Same chassis type as my other Blaupunkts (Grundig CUC 5630) but with a smaller screen. Looking back, it was pretty foolish to get rid of this little ripper! The improved focus and definition of a smaller tube is quite noticeable compared to the larger A66EAK tubes that are in most of the TVs I've still got.

Back when my TV collection numbered 25+, something drastic had to happen and so this little Blaupunkt was one of the first to go in the effort to reclaim some living space. When I made that call I had no idea that I'd come to think that analog chassis TVs were the ultimate way to go. In fact, I can remember thinking this TV was useless because it had no service menu to adjust the geometry! Foolish! Oh well... live and learn!

Friday, 2 November 2012

Over the past year I've built up a huge index of SCART/MAME related links on my laptop. There are some really cool things going on out there on the WWW and I want to share some of the great sites that I've discovered along the way. Probably save you all some Google time...

I'd also like to give many thanks to all the interesting, crazy, geeky and generous people that contributed to all these wonderful resources!

The links page is listed on my homepage and you can also jump to it from here.